Ambition is the avarice of power; and happiness herself is soon sacrified to that very lust of dominion which was first encouraged only as the best means of obtaining it.
—Charles Caleb Colton (c.1780–1832) English Clergyman, Aphorist
Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
Ambition makes more trusty slaves than need.
—Ben Jonson (1572–1637) English Dramatist, Poet, Actor
He who would rise in the world should veil his ambitions with the forms of humanity.
—Chinese Proverb
The slave has but one master; the man of ambition has as many as there are people useful to his fortune.
—Jean de La Bruyere (1645–96) French Satiric Moralist, Author
The passion of self-aggrandizement is persistent but plastic; it will never disappear from a vigorous mind, but may become morally higher by attaching itself to a larger conception of what constitutes the self.
—Charles Cooley (1864–1929) American Sociologist
Little men with little minds and little imaginations go through life in little ruts, smugly resisting all changes which would jar their little worlds.
—Zig Ziglar (1926–2012) American Author
He who sacrifices his conscience to ambition burns a picture to obtain the ashes.
—Chinese Proverb
Ambition and love are the wings to great deeds.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
How like a mounting devil in the heart rules the unreined ambition.
—Nathaniel Parker Willis (1806–67) American Poet, Playwright, Essayist
At the age of six I wanted to be a cook. At seven I wanted to be Napoleon. And my ambition has been growing steadily ever since.
—Salvador Dali (1904–89) Spanish Painter
To my customer: I may not have the answer, but I’ll find it. I may not have the time, but I’ll make it. I may not be the biggest, but I’ll be the most committed to your success.
—Unknown
What is my loftiest ambition? I’ve always wanted to throw an egg into an electric fan.
—Oliver Herford (1860–1935) Canadian-American Writer, Illustrator
We often pass from love to ambition, but we hardly ever return from ambition to love.
—Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613–80) French Writer
Do it, and then you will feel motivated to do it.
—Zig Ziglar (1926–2012) American Author
Ambition breaks the ties of blood, and forgets the obligations of gratitude.
—Walter Scott (1771–1832) Scottish Novelist, Poet, Playwright, Lawyer
Ambition is pitiless. Any merit that it cannot use it finds despicable.
—Joseph Joubert (1754–1824) French Writer, Moralist
Of all kinds of ambition, that which pursues poetical fame is the wildest.
—Oliver Goldsmith (1730–74) Irish Novelist, Playwright, Poet
Ambition has but one reward for all: A little power, a little transient fame; A grave to rest in, and a fading name!
—Walter Savage Landor (1775–1864) English Writer, Poet
Too low they build who build below the skies.
—Edward Young (1683–1765) English Poet
Ambition is to the mind what the cap is to the falcon; it blinds us first, and then compels us to tower by reason of our blindness.
—Charles Caleb Colton (c.1780–1832) English Clergyman, Aphorist
Ambition is but avarice on stilts, and masked.
—Walter Savage Landor (1775–1864) English Writer, Poet
Though ambition may be a fault in itself, it is often the mother of virtues.
—Quintilian (c.35–c.100 CE) Roman Rhetorician, Literary Critic
As he was valiant, I honor him. But as he was ambitious, I slew him.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
Hasty climbers have sudden falls.
—Italian Proverb
Meanness looks through one eye only, ambition is blind.
—Russian Proverb
I’ve got a great ambition to die of exhaustion rather than boredom.
—Angus Grossart (1937–2022) Scottish Merchant Banker, Lawyer
Ambition is a Dead Sea fruit, and the greatest peril to the soul is that one is likely to get precisely what he is seeking.
—Edward Dahlberg (1900–77) American Novelist, Essayist, Autobiographer
If you aspire to the highest place, it is no disgrace to stop at the second, or even the third, place.
—Cicero (106BCE–43BCE) Roman Philosopher, Orator, Politician, Lawyer
He was my friend, faithful and just to me:
But Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
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